24 things that Montrealers love

You can be sure that any city responsible for the planet's best bagels, and the planet's best smoked meat to go with them (NOT pastrami) has a lot of love to give to the world, yes -- but that's just the tip of the non-ship-sinking iceberg that makes up the things that Montrealers love...

Poutine
Katherine Sehl

1. Eating heavy s**t
Montrealer: You know what these deep-fried potato French fries need? Cheese curds. You know what these deep-fried potatoes covered in gooey cheese curds needs? To be drowned in gravy.

2. Festivals that revolve around eating and drinking
No one turns down an unnecessary excuse to indulge a little, and Montrealers have plenty of them: Burger Week, Poutine Week, sugar shack season, Mondial de la bière... the list goes on.

3. Making fun of Laval
You know suburban strife is a thing when Arcade Fire writes a whole album about it. Also: making fun of Longueuil’s haircuts.

Beer
Katherine Sehl

4. Drinking
A quick jaunt up Crescent or St. Laurent will prove this point pretty fast. Or a visit into any dep’s not-so-secret beer cooler rooms.

5. Talking about their #bikingproblems
Having your bike stolen, getting cut off by someone, fearing Bixi bankruptcy (again), flat tires courtesy of a sneaky-yet-vast pothole -- Montreal #bikingproblems are a real thing. 

6. Not giving a crap about that dude who just unicycled by you with a snake on his shoulders
People from Montreal are exposed to weird stuff on such a regular basis that a pair of seniors flying up the street on neon-outfitted musical bikes won’t even make ‘em flinch. Another zombie parade? Ugh, change the record.

terrasse
Katherine Sehl

7. Sitting on terrasses
No doubt because it’s only an option for few short, sweet months of the year.

8. Practicing eccentric hobbies and sports in parks
LARPing, hula hooping, silks... drinking & eating in parks is kind of a sport too, right? 

9. Frenglish and Franglais
We don’t just have one fake language here, we have two -- and yes, there is a difference.

Dep
Katherine Sehl

10. Deps 
Montrealers are proud of their deps, primarily because they make alcohol more widely available than in the rest of the country. Also, saying the word “dep” is fun. 

11. Being better than Toronto 
(Even if Toronto probably does have better employment opportunities.)

Onion Rings
Katherine Sehl

12. Late-night eats
There’s a reason bagel and poutine shops are open 24/7.

13. Making fun of hipsters
This may be considered a global pastime, but to us it means more than that. 

14. Trying to be a hipster 
We were into self-contradiction before it was cool. 

15. Going to the Tam-Tams
You always end up going to the Tam-Tams anyways. That, or Piknic Electronik.

Tam Tam
Katherine Sehl

16. Making fun of Tam-Tams
Sometimes the Tam-Tams get a little too hippie for the Montreal hipster crowd.

17. The Montreal Canadiens
And bragging about how many cups that they’ve won.

18. Protesting stuff
Even our grandmas are out there banging pots and pans in the street. Casseroles, anybody?

POP Montreal
Flickr/Simon Law

19. Music
Everyone who lives here is in a band, has been in a band, wants to be in a band, knows somebody in a band, wants to sleep with the band, has slept with someone in a band, or just moved here. 

20. Festivals
Case and point: the Jazz Fest, Osheaga, POP Montreal, and a ton of non-music related ones too.

Park
Katherine Sehl

21. Summer
Summer is so amazing in Montreal because basically, it’s just not Winter. 

22. Having a favourite something
Every Montrealer’s got their favourite poutine, their favourite beer, their favourite bagel, their favourite dep, their favourite alley cat...

Street art
Flickr/Gerry Lauzon

23. Street art
It’s even been embraced in the form of, you guessed it, a festival: Mural Fest.

24. Montreal
There’s nothing a Montrealer loves more.